Villas in Dhermi.

Dhermi is where the Albanian Riviera shows what it intends to become. A long strand of white pebbles and startlingly clear water runs beneath the Ceraunian mountains, and along it a string of beach clubs — loungers, DJs, cold rosé, paddleboards at anchor — has given the coast a rhythm that would read familiar in the Cyclades, at a fraction of the footprint.

The geography is a two-level composition. On the shore: the main beach and its quieter northern continuation at Drymades, where the clubs thin out and the olive groves come down to the pebbles. Three hundred metres up the hillside: the old stone village of Dhërmi, its houses and chapels stacked against the mountain, slowly being restored into guesthouses and terraced restaurants with the entire sea below.

Bracketing it all are the wilder escapes — the canyon-mouth beach at Gjipe to the south, reachable only on foot or by boat, and empty coves along the cliffs that a hired RIB turns into a private itinerary. Villas with sea views are multiplying on the slopes between village and beach; June and September wear them best.